ANALYSIS: Even though the Robert Wise original musical West Side Story is about as sacred a cow movie as you are going to find, Fox has unlocked that movie title for a remake specifically because Steven Spielberg is interested in making it. No writer has been set yet and Spielberg hasn’t done anything more than register his interest, which traditionally has always been enough to get a studio hot and bothered. Between this project and the Fox/DreamWorks team-up Robopocalypse, the Daniel H. Wilson sci-fi novel that has a Drew Goddard script and which Spielberg has said he will direct even though he stepped away to make Lincoln, it would be easy to see Spielberg directing movies at Fox for the next several years if in fact Stacey Snider makes a move to that studio after her contract expires at year’s end.

That’s just part of why the town sees Snider’s move over there as such an easy transition. It is an easier fit than when Jeff Robinov eyed Fox at a landing place but he did not want to report to Jim Gianopulos, who likes calling the shots after sharing power so long with Tom Rothman. Snider is apparently willing to do that and she has a lot of experience to offer managing a studio pipeline, skills that are rusting with DreamWorks’ comparatively small output.

Robinov is now well on his way to finding his money to start a company that will allow him to take big swings at Sony, and I’ve heard that there’s a good chance the bulk of that investment will come from Len Blavatnik, the Ukraine-born billionaire whose worth has been pegged at north of $17 billion. What better way for a man with that kind of money to jump into the perilous Hollywood movie business than with Gravity and Argo architect Robinov and the distribution and marketing might of Sony Pictures?

After a strong run when DreamWorks was sold to Paramount, a nasty divorce that left behind plum properties like the Transformer series, a near move to Snider’s past home Universal, and the Reliance financing/Disney arrangement which has been stepped down and has hobbled the company, I can easily imagine this finally calling a halt to the great DreamWorks experiment. The one that started with Jeffrey Katzenberg being denied the crown at the Mouse House by Disney’s Michael Eisner, and then joined into building what was to become the next great major studio by his pals Spielberg and David Geffen. I look at the recent crop of DreamWorks films, from the upcoming Need For Speed, the good but disappointing at the box office flop The Fifth Estate and the solid hit The Help, and DreamWorks just seems like an ordinary production company to me. That certainly didn’t have to be the case if the supremely ambitious principals hadn’t made all those deals that disrupted the company and instead stayed a solid course from the beginning and kept building a company on a consistent track.

As I was watching Patrick Wachsberger and Rob Friedman accept the Publicist Guild’s Showmanship Award last Friday for building Summit, I found myself thinking about their accomplishment in contrast to Snider, Spielberg and DreamWorks as the specter of her Fox move and the West Side Story resuscitation first came up. If you had lined up Wachsberger and Friedman against DreamWorks braintrust even when Katzenberg peeled off DreamWorks Animation and Snider left Universal to partner with Spielberg, and said who was more likely to build the next major studio, you’d have put your money big on Snider and Spielberg. And yet it was Wachsberger and Friedman — with the help of a lucky break of Paramount dropping the Stephenie Meyer book series Twilight Saga – who managed to leverage their success into a marriage with Lionsgate to create the closest thing we’ve seen to a new major studio (how long do we keep calling them independent when they outshine major studios every year?), while DreamWorks is flagging and seems to be out of gas as it generates good but hardly game-changing product.

I would argue that in the case of DreamWorks, the principals were already made men who would not have had far to fall no matter what happened even if Katzenberg had to sue Disney to come up with his share of the initial investment. All of them are hall-of-fame-caliber talents, but instead of building a back lot that would have demonstrated they meant business, DreamWorks never had a physical space. Spielberg’s mailing address never changed from the Amblin offices on the Universal lot. I look at Summit, which married into Lionsgate’s Hunger Games franchise and now reports the same kind of pre-release fervor for the new franchise Divergent as it experienced with Twilight Saga. That is the bedrock of a wannabe studio, those franchises that can turn in big global grosses. That seems how you build a studio, even if you don’t break ground on a back lot.

DreamWorks had the biggest of those, when Spielberg personally shaped the humanity of the first Transformers installment and hand picked Michael Bay to direct it. The fourth one is on the way, aiming to surpass the last one’s billion dollar worldwide gross. Only they left it at Paramount in a divorce that reportedly had much to do with Paramount offending the DreamWorks principals by taking too much credit for a string of successes. Really?

Then there was the expected move back to Universal, where Spielberg had so many successes and Snider presided over the studio. That changed at the last moment for the radical move to India-based Reliance with a Disney output deal. Might a Universal deal have cut DreamWorks in as partner on Jurassic World, the film that will anchor what will be a huge summer for Universal in 2015 and probably inch up toward the billion dollar gross stratosphere if it’s any good? Who knows? It ended in scorched earth feelings between Snider and Universal’s get along with everyone head Ron Meyer, and with DreamWorks having to go hat in hand to India when it was time for new investment, to see if that company was still in. DreamWorks also hasn’t been helped in this factor: the company’s great strength is Spielberg, but as a filmmaker, he follows his heart when he makes choices to direct films. If Spielberg was mercenary, Robopocalypse would have gotten done already and fattened the coffers of Reliance and made those India partners happy. But he stuck a pin in that film because he wanted it to be better quality, and he has stepped in and out of numerous movies. And while the most commercially successful director in history this side of James Cameron, Spielberg is just as likely to do a personal movie as something tent pole. Spielberg’s still personally being paid a fortune for that Jurassic World sequel, and there was that earlier flirtation that Snider might move back to Universal when she was briefly courted by the Comcast higher-ups. It just felt that it was all about them, the principals, and not the company they are supposed to be building into a dynasty.

To me the big difference between Wachsberger, Friedman and Snider, Spielberg etc, is maybe the latter were too smart, too prone to make the hot deal rather than stay the course, and who never felt the desperation that I’m sure drove Wachsberger and Friedman and their Summit teams when failure was possible. Maybe all the DreamWorks guys got personally richer, but Wachsberger and Friedman were hungrier and you can see the difference.

From what I hear, the Fox move is more when that if. Katzenberg has a foothold and the ear of higher-ups since moving his DreamWorks Animation distribution deal to there from Paramount, whose execs felt that the 8% distribution fee revenue required just too much high maintenance work. Everybody now wonders what will happen to DreamWorks, but it seems easy enough, like in the Paramount divorce, those projects could be assimilated at Fox, or to come under Spielberg’s wing at Amblin. It will be business as usual, but certainly an anticlimactic ending to what was envisioned as something historical. Reliance will be fine as well, but it is a useful lesson to learn that even when you are invited to bankroll a company led by a Hollywood’s king director like Spielberg, there is no such thing as a sure thing in this business unless the principals risk so much that they are supremely driven to succeed.

90 Comments

Oh, the LGBT community is going to have their thongs in a twist over this one.

MexyMartini • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I suspect that you wear a thong in private.

SDG • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Thongs in a twist? What year is this – 1958?

TOM • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Why doesn’t Spielberg just do a revisionist remake of ‘Gone With The Wind?’

Mark_2674 • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

They already did. Its called “12 years a Slave”. Not exactly revisionist — a violence porn version though I guess.

As far as West Side Story — lamest musical ever made, imo. Would rather see an SNL spoof of it. How many lame remakes of Romeo and Juliet do we need. I’ve got it — a gay version “Romeo and Julius”, set in some red state. The charming young couple want to get married but they both come from families that oppose gay marriage. So they end up killing themselves. Actually, its probably already been done.

Teri Cross Chetwood • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

To death.

(Pardon the pun.)

yawn • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Call me when Michael Bay “registers interest” in Casablanca.

Yep • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Great idea to reinvent West Side Story. I love seeing classic material reinterpreted — in the same way Arthur Laurents’ last production on Broadway did it a few years back. Some people out there (especially snobs on these message boards) resist it, but I like to see filmmakers revisiting classics — Baz Luhrman with Great Gatsby, the recent Planet of the Apes, etc. Very interesting.

I’m curious to see what this DreamWorks 3.0 merged with Fox might look like. Stacey Snider is a very smart choice.

Mike • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Did you honestly put the Great Gatsby and Planet of the Apes in the same sentence? Don’t get me wrong, I like them both. But Gatsby worked best as a novel. Probably one of the best in American literature. Apes is a great Sci-Fi movie.

Huh? • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

What’s your point? Both are classics. They belong in the same sentence to me.

mplo • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

West Side Story is a special movie that’s in a class all by itself, and a classic that should NOT be messed with. I say that Steve Spielberg should leave well enough alone and tackle something else, instead.

Kyle • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

They need to hire Naya Rivera ASAP

Daya • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I’m sorry, did you not hear how auto-tuned her version of “America” sounded? What was supposed to be a Puerto Rican accent sounded like The Count from “Sesame Street” As if that didn’t convince you enough, you should go back and listen to that horrendous rendition of “Rain On My Parade” she did for the “Frenemies” episode.

I don’t mean to knock the poor girl. Rivera is talented comedic actress with a passible pop voice. She doesn’t have the belt needed to pull of any of the singing roles in WSS, let alone Anita. She might be able to pull of Anita’s sass, but not her singing and overall characterization.

Auto tune is “cheating” but you have to remember that in the original Natalie Wood did NONE of the singing herself. She just lip synched Marni Nixon’s voice.It would be nice to see someone play the part who had the skills to actually do it herself with natural raw talent.

Nick • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Please Mr. Spielberg, let’s not do this… Please…?

FTCS • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

No! C’mon Steven, do something else…PLEASE.

Fan • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Cracking article. But don’t believe the studio hype, there is no buzz for Divirgent. Be interested to hear how Reliance’s entertainment investments are playing out. I hear they’ve taken a bath on everything from movies to video games.

K.Diggs • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

This is a HORRIBLE idea. The movie would have to be updated which makes it impossible to do because GANGS DON’T ‘FIST FIGHT” ANYMORE, they SHOOT EACH OTHER. The charm of the old movie is that gangs were relatively, despite the death of Bernardo, relatively harmless. They were CARTOON VERSIONS of that gangs are NOW. And that neither lends itself to MUSIC nor COMEDY. The music would have to be RAP or HEAVY METAL, both of which are SATANIC, today’s gangs don’t lend themselves to Leonard and Bernstein! Baaaad idea Steve.

And when the gang leaders meet in the soda shop for a war meeting they order “Cokes all around”-makes you want to cry.

JustSayin • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

@K.Diggs, I couldn’t agree with you more!

Additionally, the audience could, at least, sympathize with the kids in the gangs of that time period based on their feelings of alienation from the mainstream.

In today’s polarized climate of race and class I don’t see how audiences would be understanding of similar characters in an updated version. It’s just not realistic.

anonymous peon • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Newsflash – they killed each other then too.

For those with rose-colored-glasses syndrome, the murder rate in NYC is actually less now than it was when West Side Story was released…

mjm • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I agree do not mess with the work of Leonard and Bernstein! I think they are better the Rodgers and Hammerstien but not quite as good an the work of Andrew,Lloyd and Webber.

rob • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

please don’t fuck this up. we don’t need a new and improved hip-hop version of West Side Story- but I’m sure Sondheim won’t let them do that.

mike • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

J-Lo as Anita. Beyonce as Maria. Pitbull as Bernardo.

Taco • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Three vastly overrated chunks of human waste?

Can’t we do better?

me! • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I guess directing GYPSY w/ Streisand is offically DOA

tobetobedu • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

God, let’s hope so.

John Hatcher • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I have worked in the industry since 1988 and my work on screen and as a producer has generated $ 1 billion in revenue. I would be the perfect lead for the Robopocalypse project. I am used to using doubles for action sequences and voice dubbing is well known. As evidenced by my girth, I have the hunger to succeed that Fleming is speaking to in the article.

M. Kelley • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I’m not sure I buy some of the the underlying thesis here as for instance Lionsgate doesn’t have a lot and yet you contend that they’re the hot new studio but can’t you make the case that the model was DreamWorks? (Meaning studio without a lot.)

cathy • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Nooooo! Please make it stop! I can’t handle another remake of a classic! Hollywood has dried up and can’t produce anything new and original.

anonymous peon • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

The Interwebs circa 1957

“Nooooo! Please make it stop! I can’t handle another remake of a classic! A musical version of the Romeo and Juliet! Heresy! Broadway has dried up and can’t produce anything new and original”

Programmer • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Why bother remaking West Side Story? Also, what is the deal with DreamWorks? I feel the company and the concept of the company is something that exists only between 1995 and 1998. Or is it that Hollywood, overall, is stuck in 1995?

Herbert Kerberger • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I am a successful executive who also happens to be very good-looking. I just finished reading this article and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Accordingly, I will staple my lips shut and walk/squat around the Paramount lot until Security removes me forcibly. None of you –NONE OF YOU SLIME–can stop me.

Dan • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Great read – insightful and intelligent. You only find perspectives on Hollywood like this on Deadline. And no, I don’t work for PMC.

FFSG • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I’m kind of surprised no one else has remarked about the rest of the article, which was great. When will Robinov’s operation officially launch? Also is Lynn Harris confirmed to be there?

Bob the Builder • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Speilberg with a musical? Seems the closest he’s come to that was the opening musical number in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, and that was 30 years ago (1984).

West Side Story is a classic by itself, even though it is a modern reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Couldn’t Speilberg just remake that? Everyone else has, in numerous genres.

Guy • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

I guess the original isn’t ethnic enough for today.

anonymous peon • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

And remind me where the originality was in remaking Romeo and Juliet as a musical?

H0llyw00d90028 • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

So Spielberg might finally get to make the big Movie Musical he has been wanting to make since the 1980s

When he first talked about his desire to make a full fledged classic movie musical, around the time Temple of Doom was released(with its own big opening musical number)

You should be a studio head. It’s one thing for an ephemeral media such as the stage, but it’s an entirely different thing for film.

kensington • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Look at the upside…finally we’ll get a Spielberg movie with music from someone other than John Williams.

Anonymous • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

He’ll still do the score or whatever.

anonymous peon • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

already been done – Quincy Jones did the music for Color Purple. John Williams had nothing to do with it

Anonymous • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

West Side Story will only work if it’s set in the 1950’s and if that’s the case why bother to remake it? Robert Wise did it perfectly. I’d rather see Steven do Guys & Dolls provided it’s set in the 1930’s.

Anonymous • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

Sounds highly unlikely. Steven Spielberg quite often “registers interest” in many projects he rarely brings to term. Like many powerful players, he is always developing many things at the same time and ends up choosing one, leaving tons of work by writers, designers and others die along the way. Since he is the king of the castle, studios and producers indulge him and nobody seems to care (except the people who give these projects their best for nothing, or just money). He always wanted to make a musical, and probably would have made a great one. The choice of WSS is a bit off, though. I guess he can make whatever he wants (he has earned that right) but I wish he would choose better the projects he devotes his few remaining years as an active director to. He’s one of the greatest directors of all time, and there’re not that many more spielberg movies ahead for us to enjoy. Please Mr.SS, don’t waste three years re-making West Side Story.

George • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

In the original concept didn’t Bernstein want to use
an black gang fighting a Hispanic gang?
But instead he got pushed into the lame concept of a Polish gang?
Now you move the scene from NYC to LA and you can
really up the level of violence to true to life levels.
A gang r_pe of Krupke for example.

Peter • on Mar 5, 2014 9:20 am

No, I believe it originally was Italian vs Jewish, but I cannot remember which was which.